E-book customer sharing with anti-piracy group BREIN faces political backlash

Remember the news that a number of Dutch-speaking e-book vendors had agreed to share information of customers, ehm, suspected pirates, with the anti-piracy watchdog BREIN? Well, it caused quite the backlash. The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice is now faced with a handful of unpleasant questions regarding the legality of this agreement. As MobileReader Katsunami reports, one of the questions is (translated):

Quote:

Is it true that web stores connected to the distribution platform eBoekhuis can be compelled to submit customer information to Foundation BREIN? If yes, how does submitting this sort of information to third parties relate to the laws and regulations with regard to to the protections of personal data? If no, then what is not true in the above statement?

There is no denying that e-book piracy on the Internet is rampant; yet the question remains: Should private organizations such as BREIN, who have no legal or investigative authority, be allowed to access private customer information in their attempt to identify the people alleged to be offering pirated content?